RE: Has atheism made you different?
April 25, 2013 at 10:20 pm
(This post was last modified: April 25, 2013 at 10:21 pm by Cyberman.)
On the subject of "using different meanings of common words", I must point out that an agnostic is not someone who "neither accepts or denies the possibility of God", but rather someone who does not profess to know of such an entity's existence. Gnosticism and agnosticism refer to what a person knows (from the Greek gnṓsis: knowledge, inquiry); whereas theism and atheism refer to belief. The two terms are not mutually exclusive and together can provide a more complete picture of a person's viewpoint. Typically, the spectrum runs: gnostic theist, agnostic theist, agnostic atheist, gnostic atheist.
As for "antitheist", while such a belief system (i.e. someone who actively opposes theism) does exist I fear you are using the wrong prefix when you say that the word means "anti(before) theist like being in a state before believing in God". The prefix you require to make this work would be ante - as in anteroom (a small room admitting to a larger room), antenatal (before birth), antelope (prior to - er, a lope).
As for "antitheist", while such a belief system (i.e. someone who actively opposes theism) does exist I fear you are using the wrong prefix when you say that the word means "anti(before) theist like being in a state before believing in God". The prefix you require to make this work would be ante - as in anteroom (a small room admitting to a larger room), antenatal (before birth), antelope (prior to - er, a lope).
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
